Dismiss and prosecute Bettey – Group to GES

The Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) is calling for the immediate dismissal and prosecution of Rev. Jonathan Bettey, former Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Ghana Education Service (GES) and his accomplices for allegedly forging his promotional letter.

Rev. Bettey was transferred to the Central Regional Education Office after GES investigations proved he had engaged in criminality.

Acting Deputy Director General of GES, Anthony Boateng reportedly said Rev. Bettey had been drawing salary equivalent to the rank of Deputy Director since April 2017, although he had not attained the level of a deputy director.

“I and my Director General took office early part of last year (2017) and we had a lot of issues we were dealing with. Then someone alerted us that there are some staff whose promotion letter they suspect was fraudulent. So we started investigations into the matter and I invited him and he admitted that he’s never attended any interview for promotion to level of Deputy Director. He was asked where he got the promotion letter from and he said his promotion was a gift from the former Director General. Can you imagine this!” he said on Kasapa FM.

Although Rev Bettey has denied any wrong doing, the group asserts he should have been sacked and prosecuted instead of a reassignment.

“We call for immediate dismissal and prosecution of the former PRO of Ghana Education Service Rev. Jonathan Bettey and his accomplices. We learnt with great disappointment the shocking revelation made by the acting Deputy Director General of GES, Mr Anthony Boateng.

“The Ghana Education Service is not a charitable organization to be dishing out promotion to its members on a silver platter. We don’t just find it ridiculous but "childish" on that part of GES to transfer such a character to Central region Education office without giving him out to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for him to face the full rigours of the law,” a statement signed by Eric Owusu, Head of Education at ILAPI said.

It further called on GES and government to “Constitute a full scale investigation into this matter to save the service, ask all those involved in this fraudulent deal to resign from their posts, cause total criminal prosecution for all those involved, order Rev. Bettey to pay back all the monies he has withdrawn from government coffers from this fraudulent promotion and make public the forgery documents.”

Below is the full statement:

INSTITUTE FOR LIBERTY & POLICY INNOVATION (ILAPI)

PRESS STATEMENT

5/01/18

We call for immediate dismissal and prosecution of the former PRO of Ghana Education Service Rev. Jonathan Bettey and his accomplices. We learnt with great disappointment the shocking revelation made by the acting Deputy Director General of GES, Mr Anthony Boateng. According to him, Rev Bettey forged his promotion letter to attain his current rank in the service. He further stated that, the former PRO admitted he never attended any promotion interview and cited his promotion as a gift from the former Director General of GES.

If this is something to go by, then we think it is so unfair to the hard working teachers and educators within the service who had to apply and go through rigorous interviews in order to be promoted to their various ranks.

The Ghana Education Service is not a charitable organization to be dishing out promotion to its members on a silver platter.

We don’t just find it ridiculous but "childish" on that part of GES to transfer such a character to Central region Education office without giving him out to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for him to face the full rigours of the law. According to Mr Anthony Boateng and we quote “We felt we’d done him a favour by quietly transferring him from the face of the GES to a region. We felt this is something criminal but we wanted to massage it, then he goes out there to talk the way he did.” This is clear admission of wrong doing on the part of the GES. This unguarded statement shouldn’t have come from a body tasked to train children to become responsible citizens and contribute their quotas to national development. We have gone through the code of conducts of GES members and couldn’t sight any text advising members to be massaging criminal conducts.

We are of the view that this statement is highly unbecoming of someone who is a deputy director general of a noble service like the Ghana Education Service and must not go unpunished. We are therefore calling on the GES council/government to as a matter of urgency:

1. Constitute a full scale investigation into this matter to save the service.

2. Ask all those involved in this fraudulent deal to resign from their posts.

3. Cause total criminal prosecution for all those involved.

4. Order Rev. Bettey to pay back all the monies he has withdrawn from government coffers from this fraudulent promotion.

4. Make public the forgery documents.

A legal suit will follow against GES for such a gross indiscipline and other ongoing rots if nothing is done to build public trust.

Eric Owusu

Head of Education.

ILAPI- GHANA

TEMA

Mobile: 0505810080/ 0242850156 / 0246380994

CC:

GES

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